His Scent
by annie-anniakn
Summary: Kakashi stumbles upon the scent of a person that he will come to find he can't live without.  Ugh that's a horrible summary but I think the story is good. Please read the A/N inside for more details.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hello everyone this is my first fic and hopefully not my last, but we'll see how it goes. It starts out pretty G but as the story progresses it will eventually become M. It will be a time skip fic if you haven't already noticed, and I'm hoping to do 3 more in the past ones before I bring it to the present. So here we go.**

**Disclaimer: I so wish Naruto and most of the other characters were mine, sadly they are not. **

**22 years ago**

The first time Kakashi remembered smelling his scent was one a normal (for him) day of training. He had just started his last term in the Academy and was training with his father's nin-kin Pakkun. The small dog was teaching him how to track using only his nose, which for Kakashi was turning out to be pretty easy as his sense of smell was stronger than an Inuzuka's.

As per orders of his father for training Kakashi was to track Bisuke's trail, another of the nin-kin, through the whole of Konoha and record all the places Bisuke visited without getting off on a false trail. He started off very well, because he is a genius and of course he isn't going to fail training this easy. Bisuke's trail had him wondering through three different training grounds, past the Academy, through a patch of forest, and finally to where he was now, the market.

Now at this time of day (almost noon) there were many people in the market coming and going every which way, buying and selling goods, and chatting with one another. Kakashi is finding it a bit more difficult to find the scent he is looking for but not by much. He finds Bisuke's scent passing the butchers and the fish market before he reaches the fruit stalls.

Pulling in a huge lung full of air Kakashi begins to filter out smells he knows he's not looking for, apples, oranges, bananas, something extremely sweet that makes him wrinkle his nose. He breathes deeply again to make sure he's caught every odor; he cracks his eyes open when he catches something he's never smelled before, something like the smell of the woods on a rainy day only much, _much_ better. The pre-genin pulls more air thought his nose to see if he can get the scent again.

"What is it kid?" the pug at his feet rumbles gruffly.

"Smells good," Kakashi says eyes wondering over the crowd looking for the cause of his distraction, "I want to find it." He says honestly.

Pakkun raises a nonexistent eyebrow at the boys comment and watches as Kakashi weaves through the throng of people before following after him.

"Where are you going?" He barks, but Kakashi seems to not hear him.

The silver haired child wades through the sea of body's intent on finding whatever is producing that intoxicating aroma. Finally he makes it out of the crowd to a little park not far from the market. He breathes deeply again and zeros in on the little brown haired boy playing in the sand alone with his back to him. Kakashi watches him for a minute just taking in the fragrance of the little boy. There is another scent that comes close to the others but is missing something; he turns his head to see a woman sitting on a bench reading a book. Kakashi takes a few steps forward wanting to get closer to the boy.

"What are you doing?" Pakkun asks braking Kakashi from his trance.

He looks down as the pug with an innocent hunger in his eyes, "I want him." He says boldly, and turns back to the child in the sandbox. He walks forward until he is standing next to the box. "May I join you?" he asks politely.

The little boy looks over and Kakashi gasps as the brightest pair of chocolate brown eyes curve almost shut and the 2 year old replies with a vigorous nod of his head. Kakashi steps into the sandbox and sits next to the little boy.

"My name's Kakashi." he says when the little boy hands him a small shovel so he can dig in the dirt too.

"Ruka", the little boy says and smiles at Kakashi again, "do you want to build a castle with me?" he asks happily.

"Okay." Kakashi replies and starts to shovel sand into the bucket in front of Ruka. He breathed in deeply again and smiled as they worked together. By the time they were finished with the small palace he was sitting so close to Ruka their shoulders were touching, Kakashi looked watched Ruka, who was giggling excitedly at the completion of their castle.

Ruka turned and pulled Kakashi close startling the boy, "Yay! We did it!" he shouted squeezing the pale boy's neck.

Kakashi pulled in a deep breath and smiled, he loved this scent, he wanted to bottle it up and keep it forever. He pulled back from Ruka, holding the smaller boy by the shoulders and asked, "Ruka, can I keep you?"

Ruka cocked his head to the side like Kakashi had seen his nin-kin do when they didn't understand something. Then and understanding light came into the young boy's eyes and he smiled brightly and giggled again, but before he could say anything another voice spoke up.

"Iruka, it's time to go." The voice called.

Kakashi turned to see the woman from before standing by the bench book closed in her left hand, right hand beckoning to come to her. He tightened his hold on Ruka's shoulders for a moment before letting go.

"That's mommy, Kakashi, I'll see you. Bye-bye." Iruka smiled and waved as he ran to his mother's side.

Pakkun chose this moment to come up and sit next to Kakashi. "I want him." Kakashi said again while watching Iruka walk away. The pug just looked at him with and unreadable expression.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Sadly I own nothing but my own writings…**

**Thirteen Years Ago**

Kakashi's timing couldn't be worse, or better depending on how you looked at it, the second time he finally got to see Iruka. He was now a Jonin and many, many horrible things had happened in his short life. In the span of 7 years he had lost his Father, a might-have-been best friend Obito, and his other teammate Rin. So much loss in so small a timespan, and the fourteen year old was expected to live on like none of it affected him.

He was standing in the middle of the barren waste land his home had become now. Just moments ago the raging Nine-Tails Fox was barreling down on Konoha with many of her shinobi already dead at the forefronts of the battle. Kakashi was set to the task of moving the injured but still living elsewhere, but there was precious little space that had not been burnt down by the tailed beast. The only thing he could think of was his Sensei. Kakashi had been so close to him yet he couldn't prevent another one of his most important people from leaving him in the same way all the other already had. He was stronger now, the Sharingan was supposed to make him better but it had done nothing to prevent the Yondaime form being killed. The Third had already taken Naruto, whisking him away from the battle field to keep him safe. Kakashi understood the sacrifice his Sensei made to keep his village safe, he knew it wasn't the child's fault that Minato was gone but that didn't mean he had to like the baby either.

Kakashi was just making his way back to the front lines where most of his comrades now lay lifeless when he caught the scent he wasn't expecting. He had his mask pulled down so he could sniff out the living from the dead, but this scent didn't belong anywhere near this part of the battle. He inhaled deeply to make sure he wasn't mistake even though he knew he could never mistake the fragrance of _his_ Ruka. Yes, Iruka was his no matter how long he was away from the other, and he would make sure the other knew when the time came for him to.

Kakashi sped up his pace making his way faster over to the other who he could now see was knelling on the ground over two fallen bodies sobbing. He watched as Iruka stood up quickly and made a mad dash for the forest not even noticing him. The Jonin tried to call out but Iruka wasn't hearing him. He grunted as he pushed his already depleted chakra to his feet to speed himself up, Iruka had already reached the first line of trees and Kakashi had to get him back before he did anything stupid. He would never lose Iruka's scent he just had to make sure he found the boy in time. The silver haired Jonin ran faster than he thought possible on the reserves he had but finally he managed to pass the first trees. Thrusting himself forward and up he caught a branch that he used to swing higher into the trees gaining the advantage of being able to see more than just what was immediately in front of him.

He pushed off the branch under his feet shooting forward; he caught sight of Iruka's long, loose hair as he ran deeper into the forest. Kakashi had no idea what the boy was thinking but if he was running away from the village then it could be nothing good. Finally catching up to the younger boy enough that he could stop him, Kakashi dove down at a slant so he could catch Iruka around the shoulders and neck so that he was protected somewhat from hitting the unforgiving earth beneath them. Iruka screamed and struggled in the Jonin's tight grip, but Kakashi wasn't letting go until the smaller boy had calmed down.

"It's okay, Ruka, it's okay. Clam down please", Kakashi whispered into the fighting boy's ear. He squeezed a bit harder and chanted a mantra of, "it's fine Ruka; it's okay; you'll be fine." Eventually Iruka stopped resisting and just lay in Kakashi's arms panting to get his breath back; slowly he let himself go completely lax and just stared into the darkness of the forest. Kakashi pulled them up into a sitting position and hauled Iruka in the circle of his arms, resting Iruka's entire side on his chest and stomach. He pillowed the younger boy's head on his shoulder just breathing in his scent, he'd made it, Iruka was still here with him and he would let the brown eyed boy know he wasn't alone.

"How do you know my name?" Iruka asked dully, it didn't really matter much in light of recent events but it was something to distract himself from the pain in his chest. He shifted closer to the warmth of the stranger curling his legs up further.

"We've met before, I…" Kakashi sighed. He couldn't tell the boy everything now it was much too complicated for this kind of situation, so he simply said, "I'm here to help you."

"How can you help me?" Iruka questioned scornfully, lowering his head and trying to pull away from the silver haired stranger.

Kakashi tightened his hold resting his chin on the top of Iruka's head, "I know what you're going through right now. Trust me." He pleaded softly. His Ruka was finally with him, now he just needed to keep him safe and whole. He buried his nose in the soft chocolate brown hair in front of him and inhaled deeply, "I'm Kakashi", he said as he exhaled.

Iruka moved to look up into the face of the man that was holding him together. He a patch over is left eye but the rest of his face was open and honest. Kakashi smiles warily at him and the boy reached up to touch his face. Iruka put his forehead to Kakashi's chin and whispered," Kakashi…I'm scared. What will happen to me? What will I do without my parents?" By now he was sobbing openly into the Jonin's neck clutching at his uniform shirt.

Kakashi gazed up at the night sky with its sickly red orange hue in a silent plea for mercy, hadn't he been through enough already? How much more were the Gods going to throw at him before they were satisfied? He sighed and started to move so he could get to his feet; Iruka clung tighter to him not wanting to let his only comfort go.

"It's okay," the silver haired Jonin whispered, "I'm not leaving you alone tonight." He picked the crying boy up off the ground and cradled him in his arms. "Hush now Ruka we're going home okay." The younger boy nodded slightly into the pale neck his face was hidden in. Kakashi started walking back toward the village relieved that nothing drastic had happened. He smiled slightly as Iruka cuddled closer to him. At least something good was happening in the chaos around them. He didn't think he could it would last long, but while they were here alone with nothing but the woods surrounding them Kakashi could pretend that everything was going to be okay.

By the time they made it back to the village the sun was just starting to peak over the horizon giving the hazy morning and eerie bright red glow. He took Iruka straight to the Sandaime's office which was already overflowing with nin that were trying to help. He stepped up to the reinstated Hokage with a sleeping Iruka in his arms. Sandaime looked down at him for a moment before he bent to talk directly into Kakashi's ear.

"If you want me to watch over him for you I can but he will be in close quarters with Naruto." The Third said meaningfully. Kakashi only wanted the boy safe and he would do anything to ensure this. He nodded in agreement and placed Iruka in the side room with the sleeping blond. He placed a hand on either tanned cheek and placed his forehead on the one below him breathing in deeply the entire time.

"I'll always be watching over you that I promise you my Ruka", he breathed over the sleeping face. "Just wait for me, please." Kakashi kissed the lips beneath his chastely, feeling the soft smoothness of them before he pulled away. He had to become stronger if he ever wanted to protect what he loved, and if that meant that he had to leave to do it he would just work hard to make it happen faster. He turned around sliding one hand down Iruka's arm as he went only to squeeze the tan hand before he walked away. He just hoped Iruka would remember something about him and wait for his return.

**A/N: **

**Okay, hi everyone! Thanks for reading I'm so happy I got good reviews thank you guys soo much! Sorry it's been forever since I've updated but classes are kinda killing me,**

**So in case you were wondering Kakashi is 14 and Iruka is 11 in this one. I've already got the next 2 chapters a little outlined but nothing's written yet and I can't promise that there will be an update super soon but I'll try to keep it at least within a month or two. Well hope you like this chapter sorry if there are errors please tell me about them if there are. I don't read over this after it's written for some reason it's embarrassing *shrugs* well TTFN ta ta for now!**


End file.
